Our proposal is aimed at “understanding the place” and, as a result of this understanding, providing an answer to the lack of topography in the area of the city of Kaohsiung in Taiwan, where the P&CSC is to be built. This concept is not meant to be absorbed within the established magma of the city, but to emerge as a geographical element; therefore, it detaches itself from architecture to find its genealogy in the natural order to establish the idea of a landscape.

In a contemporary city, the engagement of the mind becomes an obsession, in order to keep it from being engaged in the mind itself. The rapid condensation of changing images, the differences of what can be appreciated at a glance and the unexpected force of stimuli demand a higher consumption of mental energy.

This complex seeks to recover the lost sight of the sea, and to restore the silence of contemplation as a vital and essential factor to discover ourselves and others. A sunset, some time alone, the silence of meditation, even spending time watching vessels coming ashore and being moored, all can be cause for an intense existential experience. To recover the sight, we clear the space in front of the sea and we open it to the public. This aspect must be preserved by the city as well as by the complex the port authority wishes to build.

The generatrix of the topography and the building starts from a proposal that is more volumetric than linear – the creation of space against the creation of shapes. From the outside, we appreciate the whole magnitude of the building in order to understand it all at once as a landmark. On the inside, we find the vertigo of space. The result is the symbiosis of a landscape that houses an object in whose core experiences are multiplied by means of spatial relationships.

The skin of the building is an essential element of the project. Its composition produces an optical effect which narrows or widens the vision of the project. This allows us to interpret it as a single object from a distance and to multiply the sight from a closer position – impressions that complement the passenger’s experience. The reflection of water on a titanium surface creates a framework of lights and brightness on the inside of the building that absorbs the individual and relates the architectural space to the natural order where it was conceived.